Apparatus for producing electric discharges through gases.



PATENTED MAY 5, 1908.

' A. SGHNELLER.

APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING ELECTRIC DISOHARGES THROUGH GAS APPLICATION I ILED APR.25.1904.

WWW/11mm llhllTlllE P AUGUST. SCHNELLER,

AFPARAIUS FOR PRODUCING- ELEGTBIC DISCHARGES THRG'UGH GASES.

No. seems.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented. May 5, 1908,-

Application filed April 25, 1904;. Serial No. ,808.

invented a new and Improved Apparatus for Producing Electric Discharges Through Gases, of which the following is a full, clear,

and exact description.

The object of my invention is to provide a new and improved ap aratus whereby elec'itricity is discharged through gases, in suc apparatus a fluid dielectric being utilized.

in the discharge apparatus heretofore employed chiefly for the production of ozone, only solid substances such as glass tubes or lates, mica, enameled metals and the like, nave been used as dielectric poles. When very low tensions are employed, thesedielectric substances, even when finely laminated. are practically insulating bodies. When higher tensions (such as from 6000 to 10000 volts) are employed, these finely laminated substances act as dielectrics; if the substances be mocerately (some millimeters) thick they act as resistances; if they be very thick they act as insulatingbodies, even at very high tensions. When a current of op preciable strength (of e. g. 0.000001 amp. per square centimeter) passes through great resistances, a marked difi'erence in potential is produced between the oneside and the other. The interior of the dielectric layers becomes heated at such tensions, the temperature ris-- ing as the tension increases. As a result, the absolute resistance, or else the dielectric 3 properties are so changed that simultaneously niencing the voitaic arc.

Herctofore', the dielectric pole surfaces have been cooled by Widely different methods. If a metallic coating be used to the rear of the dielectric layer, such coating is trzmsforined into a metallic receptacle in which the cooling agent may be contained. ll one pole of the apparatus be grounded, the cooling of this pole may be eli'ected directly with Water, which may be regarded pole is more formidable.

as an electric conductor. Consequently, the grounded pole may be uninterru tedly cooled without difiiculty. The prob em of cooling the dielectric layer of the insulated It is necessary to employ an intermittent cooling process. During the renewal of the cooling agent the apparatus must be "stopped; or, if the apparatus is to continue in operation uninterruptedly, either an insulated tumbler is em ployed, or the Water is allowed to fall in drops in order thus to form a cataract for the difference in potential. If the conducting cooling agent be disposed in immediate )roximity to the dielectric layer, a practice lollowedgenerally in the older laboratory apparatus employin concentric tubes, the 'rounded pole may e cooled continu'ousl ut the insulated ole must be intermittently cooled. These difficulties are all overcome in the present invention, a fluid being utilized; which is highly resistant even at the high tensions employed. if such a fluid be used, it may substitute the solid dielectric so thatit is possible to dispense with special cooling means by temporar or permanent change or circulation of the fliiid. Solid dielectrics, if they be also employed, are cooled by this lluid', which, on account of itsgreat electrical resistance, requires the exercise of none of the precautions rendered necessary, as above mentioned, in the case of Water or the like. Furthermore, the utilization of such a fluid by reason of its homogeneity o'r uniform in ternal cohesion is far more advantageous than the employment of solid dielectrics alone, which, in practice, are-more or less heterogeneous in structure, and likely to have crevices or to be of uneven thickness. Fluids of great electrical resistance are oil, oils artially saponi'fied, bcnzol, carbon bisul id, and the like. Theme of such fluids will be hereinafter more fully described and set forth in the claims.

Reference is to be had to the accompany ing drawings forming a part of this specification, in which similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure 1 represents diagrammatically a sim le form of apparatus for the discharge of electricity through a moving lluid dielectric Figs. 3, 3, l, 5 and '0 are modifications of such apparatus end Fig. 7 is a partial longitudinal sectimi-of a preferred form of appaular alteration;

ratus, Fig. 8 is, a vertical cross section through the mechanism shown in Fig.7. I Referring to Fig. 1, a and d are the poles; t represents the discharge; 0 represents a moving fluid layer of maximum resistance. The passage of the fluid through the gaseous layer 1 is accompanied by invisible discharges, which effect he chemical or molec- The prolongation of these discharges pass through the fluid layer 0, which on account of itsresistance, becomes heated and also absorbs heat from the gas eous layer 6. 'Since the layer 0 is in motion, new ortions of the fluid are constantly transformed from dielectrics to mechanical cooling agents. In F g. 2, a constant repetition of this process occurs. The moving fluid layer first reaches a zone where it acts as dielectric; on leaving the zone it appears as an indifferent insulator and cooling fluid, and then entcr s another discharge zdnoyand so on, finally emerging from the apparatus in a heated condition. After having been cooled outside the apparatus, the fluid can be repeatedly used to form the layer 0, and as a cooling agent.

I am aware that oil is used an insulating layer in high tension transformers,amtthat the process of cooling the fluid outside of the transformer is also frequently employed. In my apparatus for the discharge of electricity through gases, however, the oil is used not only to cool, but also to forma dielectric layer. I In applying this principle there is nothing'to prevent the utilization of a second dielectric layer 6 (Fig. 3) of some solid substance. This layer e may be very thin for the cooling fluid throughout its total thickness 1: acts as a complementary dielectric layer.

Whether the fluid c flows under the auxiliary layer 6, as in Fig. 3, or over the layer 6, as in Fig. 4, a most intense cooling effect is obtained. The metallic conductors in the system shown in Fig. 4 may project into the layer of moving oil. The oil layer c,' as

shown in -Fig. 5, may completely cover the conducting plate (1 and the partitions or baffies with which it is provided. [in this case the oil layer throughout its entire extent has a cooling effect upon the disch'argers. Between the discharger c and the solid dielectric layer at the prolongations of the discharges, however, the oil layer acts as a second dielectric medium.

By combining the systems shown in Figs. 4 and 5, the device shown in Fig. 0 is obtained. In this instance, the conductor (L is provided with a dam projecting into the moving oil layer; 71 is another dieleg-tric layer of some solid substance; bis the electric discharge, c is a dielectric plate ,ffthe metallic plates and their conne'ctions; g is a moving cooling fluid; (1 is the other pole. The electric discharges thereupon each assume a shape related to that of the metallic conductor, frequently appearing as a more or less truncated pyramid or a cylinder compressed in its middle.

Fig. 7 repres- "its the preferred form. of ap para-tus which i employ. The apparatus consists of three cast-iron parts which are se= cured together, and form three containers, and a pole of a high tension transformer: The central container serves passageway for the gas which is to be subjected to the electrical discharges, which passageway has its entrance at i and its exit at k. The lower 'container, which is grounded, is filled with comparatively pure water which acts as an insulator or oil which enters through the inlet m, and which is discharged through the outlet u. Between this lower container and the central container, serving as a passageway for the gas to be treated, is a metal plate 1) enameled on the upper discharge side, for which plate some dielectric substance, such as a glass or porcelain plate can be substituted. If oil cooling be used, other conductors are to be used below or in'this dielectric layer. These conductors may have the form of points orstrlps, 1f desired.

The dimensions of the apparatus shown in Fig. 7 depend upon the quantity of to he treated. Various potentials may be employed according to circumstances, apotential of 40,000 volts usually being sullicient.

In Fig. 8 the enameled surfaces may be seen in their relation to the electric discharge. The arrows indicate theinlct and outlet of this feature of the apparatus, the action of which is thus readily understood. In the upper container, inlet and outlet openings respectively designated Z and o 'are.pro- 'vided fora circulating oil layer. Between the oil layer and the central. container is a thin "dielectric plate 1'. Inthe oil layer of the upper container are the current-comlucting points or strips of the other insulated pole of the high tension transformer. There is nothing to prevent a modification of the thickness of the gas layer to be subjected to the electrical discharges up to- 30 and more millimeters. This will depend on the size and productive capacity of the apparatus.

The tension of the transformer may vary from 60000 volts upward.

Having thus described my invention, I

claim as new and desire to secure by Letters ssasm charge terminals, and a fluid dielectric flowing continuously between such terminals, for the purpose set forth. I

4. An apparatus for subjecting gases to invisible electrical discharges, com rising discharge terminals, and an electrical j resistant fluid dielectric flowing intermittently between such terminals, for the purpose set forth.

5. An apparatus for subjecting gases to invisible electrical discharges, c'om rising discharge terminals, and an electrical y resistant fluid dielectric between one terminal and a solid dielectric, forthe purpose set forth.

6. An apparatus for sub ecting gases to invisible electrical discharges, comprising discharge terminals, one terminal having prolongations, and a fluid dielectric disposed between such terminals, for the purpose set forth.

7. An apparatus for subjecting gases to invisible electrical discharges, comprising discharge terminals, one terminal having prolongations projecting into a fluid dielectric,

[dis osed between this terminal and-a solid die ectric, for the purpose set forth.

8. An apparatus for subjecting gases to invisible electrical discharges, comprising discharge terminals, a moving cooling fluid disposed between one terminal and a solid dielectric plate provided with a coating, for the purpose set forth.

9. An apparatus for subjecting gases to invisible electrical discharges, com rising discharge terminals, a cooling fluid isposed be tween one terminal and a solid dielectric, the second terminal having prolongations pro- 'ecting into a dielectric fluid layer dis osed etween this terminal and a second so 1d di;

let and outlet for conductingthe gases to be subjected between the two solid dielectric layers, for the. purpose set forth.

11'. An aparatus 'for subjecting gases to invisible e ectrical discharges, comprising terminals, a solid dielectric substance, a cooling fluid disposed intermediate of one of said terminals and a solid dielectric substance,

the other terminals having portions project,

ing into another dielectric substan'caand means for conducting the gases between the two solid dielectric substances.

12. An apparatus for subjecting gases to invisible electrical discharges, comprising terminals, a dielectric substance disposed adjacent to one of said terminals, and means for causing a liquid tocirculate in the space intermediate of said solid-dielectric substance and the terminals adjacent thereto.

In testimony whereof I' have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

AUGUST SCHNELLER. Witnesses:

J. IMER, A. M. WOONWINDEN. 

